Look out, Nolita!

The Brooklyn-spawned Little Cupcake Bakeshop has landed squarely at the intersection of Mott and Prince, and it promises to be for Nolita exactly what Magnolia is for the Willage—a blessing or a curse, depending how you see it.


The uber girly space and especially outrageous menu is guaranteed to make both fans and enemies.

For example, Fruity Pebble Treat, anyone?

How about jelly and peanut butter three-layer cake, Nutella swirl cheesecake or oatmeal whoopie pies?




If only I hadn’t already been on a sugar rampage before I visited.

I think I could have had fun sampling the smorgasbord of cupcakes that are maybe a bit much, but probably delicious.

Strawberry, lemon, devil’s food...

French toast, blue velvet, coconut…

with frostings as varied as mocha buttercream, cream cheese and meringue.

Before you get too huffy and puffy that New York needs another cupcake shop as much as you need another accidentally-expensive shopping spree in Duane Reade’s beauty aisles, take note of their good points:
• Little Cupcake Bakeshop is carbon neutral and all their equipment and (biodegradable) products come from certified green companies.
• It’s LEED-certified and runs on wind turbine and hydroelectric power—you should be able to see its carbon scorecard in the window s of its two stores.
• It regularly donates to the Carbon Fund, a non-profit organization that plants trees that soak up carbon to balance carbon emissions released by the bakery.
• The Little Cupcake Initiative is their community outreach program that has created educational campaigns and volunteer activities to advance education, sustainability and green establishments.

Cupcakes or macarons?

I repeat: cupcakes?



Or macarons?

On a tear in New York City

It was a gluttonous return to New York, that’s for sure. Lucky for me and my ass, it was also brief. Sadly, for my psyche, it was not oh-my-god gluttony.

But I tried.

There was the red velvet cupcake from Amy’s Bread. So moist (and pretty, dontcha think?), the cake crumbled into pieces beneath the light and sweet whipped buttercream. Good but messy.

And put to shame by Sugar Sweet Sunshine’s “sassy” version. Why so sassy? The red velvet cake was topped with chocolate almond buttercream frosting.


And if you’ve ever had, say, the Ooey Gooey cupcake from Sugar Sweet Sunshine you know sass = heaven.

Speaking of sassy, I watched the froster at Billy’s top off the little morsels of cake with vanilla buttercream.

But I didn’t succumb to a cupcake there. Two new treats caught the eyes of Amee and me. The cookie sandwich…

Beautiful in theory, but just not the right balance of cookie to cream. Nor was the vanilla cream thick or distinctive enough to heed the call of satisfaction.

The peanut butter chocolate bar, on the other hand, did.

Weighing in at about eight ounces, the layers of chocolate cookie crust, dark chocolate and peanut butter were sinful and hit the spot.

There were, of course, the chocolate chunk banana bread at Arlo & Esme and Clinton Street Baking Co’s banana chocolate chip muffin.


That was a power breakfast if I ever had one.

And the cherry scone, olive oil muffin, pain au chocolat and glazed croissant from Maialino.

Yep. I put all four of those down in one sitting. There’s no shame in that.

I boycotted Momofuku Milk Bar. Not because I wanted to. God knows, I live for their cornflake marshmallow chocolate chip cookies. But can you imagine how much cellophane they go through daily to individually wrap every cookie and dessert?? Totally unnecessary and gross.

But since I love a good cookie, and had to walk by this sign every day on my way into my apartment, I finally succumbed to trying Milk & Cookies at their espresso bar inside Kiehl’s.

I wanted to try the S’mores cookie. What’s not to love about chocolate and marshmallow and graham crackers, all inside a single cookie, right?

But the barista said it was a “kid’s cookie”; he didn’t recommend it. Instead, he lobbied for the chocolate chip, the peanut butter chocolate chip or snickerdoodle.

So I got the peanut butter chocolate chip: a nicely chewy texture, gritty with butter and sugar and punctuated with peanuts and chocolate chips. Another good, not great, grade. Sigh.

But happily, there was one spot in the city that made my heart twitter and my knees shake. Stay tuned.

The sweet, many splendors of London

While it’s undoubtedly fun to window-shop, cocktail-sip and gallery-hop with my brother in London, next time I’ll have to save a little more time for sweet-touring.

All over town, I was astounded by the variety…

The artistry…


The oh-my-god-get-in-my-belly-now impulses.

At Daylesford Organic Market, I was tempted by the rustic tarts.

But I succumbed to the chocolate chip cookie. (How predictable.)

William Curley’s tropical and chocolate cakes made my knees tremble.

The remedy? I took home a box of 12 bonbons. Heavenly.

At Tom’s Deli, the cake display would do any American bakery proud.

I liked what passed as “mini” cupcakes.

But, next to the juggernaut muffins, it’s all relative.

Hummingbird Bakery? Sigh. Another time, I’m afraid, when there isn’t a line snaking out the door.

And lastly, there was this little place named Ottolenghi.

Carol had instructed me to get the passionfruit meringue tart.

She said it would change my life.

And sadly, incredibly, inexcusably, I didn’t. Who wants to go with me next time??

Sprinkles to hit NYC

Not that New York needs any more cupcake bakeries, but, if an out-of-towner were going to infiltrate, Sprinkles would get my vote!

Straight from LA to Lexington Avenue, across from Bloomie's, the bakery and its 20 cupcake varieties is slated to open in January.

Cupcake carnage in Paris

Well, Cat, I’d say your Cupcake Camp was a success down to the very last crumb, n’est pas??

At 4:30, the line was already creeping down the block.


It wasn’t much better inside.


Why? Ten euros and for a drink and as many! cupcakes! as! you! want! (Mercy. How many stomachaches out there tonight??)

The flavors ran the gamut: cookies and cream, fig, rose champagne, peanut butter, strawberry, chocolate fudge, watermelon wasabi (you heard me)…

Served up by the pros—Little Miss Cupcake, of course, plus Synie’s, Berko, Chloé S, Cupcakes & Co., Il Gelatario—as well as a gazillion amateurs.

Everyone could help themselves and then “camped” out in the Passage Vivienne.



Yep. That’s what I’d call cupcake carnage—bravo, Cat!